Off Gallivanting in Qld....

We love Queensland eh? This time we went for a wedding, a visit with family, and a farewell to two of Stu's closest friends....

First reason for travel: Cameron & Shweta's wedding celebtration on North Stradbroke Island off the coast of south east Qld. C&S already had their formal wedding ceremony and reception in India earlier on in the year, so this one was for all the fam & friends back in Aus who didn't make it out to that one. A nice, relaxed, laid back sort of function on the waterfront. Stuart was in the wedding party. He and Cameron were particularly close during the 6-14 yr old age range of their lives until Cam moved away, but have remained friends ever since. Amazing how after all these years and spartically keeping in touch, they managed to stay so tight that Stuart got the honour to partake in the ceremony. I love how guys can do that...

Anyway, Stradbroke Island was nice, but probably could've been nicer if the weather wasn't so horrible. Unfortunately for C&S it poured the entire day of their wedding. We kept telling Shweta it would pass, but by the 50th time, you could tell she was about to hit someone. Luckily it stopped just in time for them to exchange vows in front of a somewhat sunset backdrop by the waterfront followed by some dolphins swimming in the distance and even coming up to shore to say hello. It was cool.

Stu & Cam getting ready...

Shweta being 'given away'...
Crazy kids grinning ear to ear after alot of red wine...

The next day after the wedding we went back to Kendall & Cady's. Caught up over breakfast, had a quick snooze in the afternoon, and then went over to one of Kendall's friends house for some drinks on the deck. It's always good to hang with Stuart's brother and sister in-law. That nite we flew up to Cairns where we were to spend the rest of the week...

Before doing anything, Stuart and I decided we would drive 3 hours up north to Cooktown to check it out. So that Monday we packed up the van and headed out on the long road to Cooktown. A bit of a boring drive, but the country side was amazing to me. I really thought it was what Australia was all about. A rough, rugged, humid looking country with wildlife everywhere. The road up to Cooktown recently got sealed and landowners had yet to finish fencing their properties. So you really had to be careful not to hit any live (or dead for that matter) cattle and kanga's as you travelled up the winding roads. Side note...we almost hit not one, but two kangaroo's on the way back, but Stu was good and avoided any possible collison. Lucky for that b/c I really didn't want to have any dead animals land in my lap....

Anyway, Cooktown is known for being a really windy town. We thought about camping, but decided against it and got a cabin instead. Good thing b/c I'm not sure being thrown around in a tent at night would be very enjoyable. The next day we got up bright and early and went to the Cooktown Museum to meet Capt James Cook and read about his adventure across the south pacific - " and there we shall beach the endevour!" (that was my impression of Cpt JC)....It was an interesting museum. We then decided to take a guided boat cruise up the river in the afternoon, but had about 3 hours to kill so we checked more of Cooktown out. Went up to Grassy Hill and out to Finch Bay before departing. The boast cruise was really good. Learned alot about the history of the town and even saw some wild Crocs along the way. It was a jammed packed day and we made our way back to Atherton before getting dark.

View from Grassy Hill

Finch Bay...and below Croc in the wild!

The rest of the week was spent in Atherton and Cairns. We spent a day going to the shops in Cairns and hitting some balls at the driving range before coming home to enjoy an amazing dinner with all of Stuart's family. We were practicing our swing for the next day where we spent the morning golfing at Atherton Golf Club. It was ladies day that day, but luckily there weren't too many ladies and we had a pretty cruisy game of golf. After our round we met up with Glynis for lunch at the pub, did some shopping at Sports North and then hung out before going to Stuart's friend Cuda's house for a barbie. The primary reason for this function was to catch up with Stuart's friends and say farewell to Betty & Simon who are off to Europe in November to settle and work. It was really good to see them, but very sad to say good-bye and see them go. That's okay though, at least we'll have a good reason now to go and visit!

Stuart, Simon, and Tony mixin' some beats!

Betty & Christine...

Sadly, the next day was departure day. Stuart had to get back to Sydney to play Cricket on Saturday for the North Sydney Bears! He won by the way!!!!! Our trip was amazing.....just 3 more months till Christmas until we can go back up again....